This letter has been making its way around Calgary West. It’s written by Clyde Fulton, a long time CPC member who has worked on Harper's campaigns and donated money to the party. I have to agree with it, this new nomination process is a sham. It was addressed to Don Plett and cc’d to the PM and all National Council VP’s. This new rule and its process is something right out of the Robert Mugabe playbook of “creative democracy”. Have a read:

I enclose my Certificate of Appreciation, which I am returning in disgust over the manner in which you and National Council have subverted the democratic nomination process in the EDA of Calgary West, depriving grassroots party members of a long-sought after and well-deserved nomination meeting.

A balloting process requiring two-thirds of all members to request a nomination meeting is a sham with a predetermined outcome. While one could legitimately argue whether a simple majority or some greater percentage of voting members is appropriate, two-thirds of all registered members is an absurd hurdle rate clearly designed to simply acclaim all existing MPs, while wasting party resources in a pathetic attempt to give the appearance of having consulted the membership.

Perhaps you could tell me how you intend to validate the number of living members in the EDA which will be used to calculate the two-thirds majority. I am aware of at least one deceased member ... perhaps you could tell me how many others have died, moved out of the EDA or are otherwise ineligible? How can you even verify that all members have received ballots? The answer of course is that you cannot do any of these things because the process is so badly flawed.

It is a sad irony that this party, which only months ago claimed the opposition was undemocratically attempting to seize control through a coalition, now effectively disenfranchises its own members using an unprecedented and absurd test of two-thirds of all registered members. Not once in the past four federal elections have two-thirds of registered Canadian voters actually cast a vote. I am unaware of any democratic process in which a failure to vote is regarded as a vote in favour of the status quo. I can only presume the goal of National Council is to keep the party's focus on winning the next election, as it should be. Does the prospect of a divisive challenge to the legitimacy of this process seem like a good use of party resources in a minority government situation? Why would you insult the very membership you rely upon for financial and voter support with such a transparently deceitful and mean-spirited process?

As you are acutely aware, Calgary West recently held its AGM in which a new Board was elected with a clear mandate to hold a nomination meeting. This was the culmination of a decade-long struggle to replace the buffoon who has represented this riding for the past 12 years. His offensive response was to simply brand as "closet Liberals" longstanding party members of integrity who questioned, challenged or criticized his outlandish behavior and dismal performance as an MP.

The question so many of us in Calgary West are asking is what possible interest you, the party and the Prime Minister have in protecting Mr. Anders who represents such a liability and whose performance is the subject of constant ridicule by his own constituents and any impartial, thoughtful observer. He reaffirms in the minds of many Canadian voters their concern that the party still tolerates the lunatic element of the extreme right, effectively dashing any hope of ever electing a Conservative majority government.

Further exacerbating my frustration, has been the manner in which you personally, Mr. Plett, have intervened to undermine the authority of the EDA and the will of the grassroots members of Calgary West by unilaterally denying the new Board and its Interim Executive timely access to the mailing list. Your thug-like behavior contravenes every principle of grassroots democracy that this party was founded upon.

While it saddens me to withdraw my support from the party that I truly believe should govern this country, the reprehensible actions, arrogant attitude and bullying conduct of you personally and National Council have left me no choice but to use every democratic means available to effect the positive change so desperately needed in this riding and apparently at National Council itself. Until we are able to hold a fair, open and democratic nomination process in Calgary West I will:

• Withhold all further financial contributions to the party and encourage my family,
friends, neighbours and business colleagues to do likewise
• Use every channel available to me to publicize this charade
• Make every effort to apply increased scrutiny and publicity over Mr. Anders
dismal performance
• Support the recruitment and financing of a high profile independent progressive conservative candidate of integrity to run in Calgary West in the next federal election. The risk of course is that this will split the conservative vote allowing a Liberal win. While this would be unfortunate, it is the only process you and National Council have left available to the large number of people in this riding so disenchanted with Mr Anders.

Historically I have taken a very passive role in politics. However this issue has mobilized me like no other. I will make it my personal mission to bring this travesty of democracy to the attention of as many people as possible.

If you believe a nomination process would have been divisive, you can imagine what using such a fraudulent process to deprive the newly mobilized membership of Calgary West of a legitimate voice in selecting who will represent them in the next election will produce.

The Prime Minister and the Party have the actions of you personally and National Council to blame for this deplorable situation.

I agree, the nomination contest rules are in need of overhaul. While 2/3rds seems reasonable for an EDA with a few hundred members, it's an obvious problem for Western ridings, that often approach or exceed 1000 active members. These rules aren't new, but the fact that they are decided wholly by party officials is a problem - nomination contest rules should be part of our constitution and subject to alteration by the members at large.

That said,

Clyde Fulton wrote:

...Support the recruitment and financing of a high profile independent progressive conservative candidate of integrity to run in Calgary West in the next federal election.

This is hardly suprising, and adds weight to rumours I've heard about some of the external support for one of Ander's would-be successors.

Yeah, I haven't heard of anyone running independent yet in the riding. I know the ones who wanted to run within the party are: Anders (of course), Donna Kennedy-Glans, Dan Morrison and Mike Gladstone. Some of them could be thinking of running independent. We all know Anders and there is a lot of coverage recently of Kennedy-Glans. Morison ran against Anders in his last nomination contest within the party years ago. I don't know anything about Gladstone really. But those are the names being thrown around the community.

Nevertheless, it would be much better if they allowed an internal nomination process and did not just undermine the members in the riding like they have. Gladstone, Morison and Kennedy-Glans are all conservatives to, so its to bad if one of them runs that they will be forced to go against the party to do so. Further, I hear that the Libs are going to parachute a high profile candidate into the riding. I don't think that candidate alone could win. However, if a high profile independent conservative runs and steals some CPC vote, there is a small chance the Libs could squeak by in Calgary West. I think its unlikely, but possible.

calgary west conservatives ? you mean liberals in disguise who have joined the party only to try and remove anders and replace him with donna kennedy glans who comes across as a red tory willing to cross the floor and pull a belinda . her stunt of taking over the riding association and this whole thing appears to be an intentional effort to make the party look bad , i guarantee she will eventually be a liberal candidate in calgary at some point in the future .

anyways i'd be shocked if her supporters manage to win this vote and get the 2/3 's needed for a nomination meeting . anders more than likely will once again be the cpc candidate and kennedy glans will run against him as an independent or seek the liberal nomination .

Yeah, I haven't heard of anyone running independent yet in the riding. I know the ones who wanted to run within the party are: Anders (of course), Donna Kennedy-Glans, Dan Morrison and Mike Gladstone. Some of them could be thinking of running independent. We all know Anders and there is a lot of coverage recently of Kennedy-Glans. Morison ran against Anders in his last nomination contest within the party years ago. I don't know anything about Gladstone really. But those are the names being thrown around the community.

Nevertheless, it would be much better if they allowed an internal nomination process and did not just undermine the members in the riding like they have. Gladstone, Morison and Kennedy-Glans are all conservatives to, so its to bad if one of them runs that they will be forced to go against the party to do so. Further, I hear that the Libs are going to parachute a high profile candidate into the riding. I don't think that candidate alone could win. However, if a high profile independent conservative runs and steals some CPC vote, there is a small chance the Libs could squeak by in Calgary West. I think its unlikely, but possible.

parachute a high profile candidate in ? why they allready have donna kennedy glans , trust me i'm sure they have allready asked her to be there candidate or this whole thing is an intentional effort to make anders look bad in preparation for the next election and her eventual attempt at running in the riding . she won't ever be the cpc candidate there and i doubt harper would ever sign her papers if she did manage to get a nomiantion anyways . a more likely possibility is that she runs as a liberal there at some point after this attempt at making anders look bad/ removing him comes to another unsucessful end like the other attempts .

Kennedy-Glans was doing work for the party in her 20's and she has to be pushing 50 now. I don't see her switching to the Liberals all of a sudden. I spoke with her at the AGM and I voted for her slate on the board and I am not a Jonny Come Lately conservative. Whether she would win a nomination, I don't know. But I like what she is doing about Anders and the crap nomination process that the National Council has put in.

Anders is not the best qualified person in Calgary West to do his job. He has been an MP since he was 25 and has no real work experience. If you have been an MP for almost 13 years, your party is the government and you're not a Minister there is an issue with you bother internally and externally.

There would be a lot of candidates come forward in Calgary West if a nomination process was allowed. Even if it's not allowed, I thank Kennedy-Glans for trying to do something about the man I and the majority of the community and its party members feel is an embarassment to us and Canada.

Kennedy-Glans was doing work for the party in her 20's and she has to be pushing 50 now. I don't see her switching to the Liberals all of a sudden. I spoke with her at the AGM and I voted for her slate on the board and I am not a Jonny Come Lately conservative. Whether she would win a nomination, I don't know. But I like what she is doing about Anders and the crap nomination process that the National Council has put in.

Anders is not the best qualified person in Calgary West to do his job. He has been an MP since he was 25 and has no real work experience. If you have been an MP for almost 13 years, your party is the government and you're not a Minister there is an issue with you bother internally and externally.

There would be a lot of candidates come forward in Calgary West if a nomination process was allowed. Even if it's not allowed, I thank Kennedy-Glans for trying to do something about the man I and the majority of the community and its party members feel is an embarassment to us and Canada.

yeah but here claims that anders is massively unpopular don't add up , first of all he has been elected to the house of commons in every election since 1997 and by large margins. trying to claim he is unpopular does not add up as his numbers in each election are strong .
secondly other candidates are interested in running for cpc nominations in alberta , they have been good and not taken over riding associations like she did or went to the press to make the party as a whole look bad . to be honestly i think after all the crap she has pulled in an effort to embarrass anders and the party she should just be kicked out of the party all together , she is not the kind of candidate we don't need and the party should set an example that these kind of attacks against a sitting mp will not be tolerated in the future .

Our last 'normal' election was held on November 23, 2000, and resulted in a Chretien Liberal majority government. We would have expected the next election in 2004, or roughly 4 years after the last election.

The applecart was overturned on November 14, 2003 when Paul Martin took over from Jean Chretien as LPC leader and PM. We kicked into election mode then, and got our wish 5 months later with a May election call and a June 28, 2004 election, not far off the expected 4 year mark. The next election should have been about 2008.

Martin had a minority though and we stayed on election alert with several false alarms for the next 17 months and a November election call for a marathon 60 day election campaign that lasted over Christmas and an election date of January 23, 2006. The next election should have been held about 2010.

Now Harper had a minority and we were on pins and needles expecting a government defeat (and more false alarms) over the next 21 months and a September election call. We had an election October 14, 2008, two years ahead of schedule and elected another Harper minority. The next election should be held about 2012.

In December 2008 we had the opposition parties propose a coalition and takeover of the government. At the same time, we were seeing the beginnings of an economic downturn that has turned into a full-blown recession. In public opinion polls, the public was adamant on two points. 1) they did not want an opposition coalition to govern; and 2) they did not want another election. Implicit in the polls was a warning to politicians to begin to behave like rational adults and get on with the tasks they were elected to do.

One aspect of the October 2008 election not often discussed is burnout. Activists, party supporters, candidates, electors and volunteers were all burned out and our election results suffered as a consequence. We cannot keep the militia sleeping in their clothes with muskets close at hand for five years (and counting) without paying a price. By next fall, we will have been in election mode for six years.

Common sense and logic dictates that we should be bolstering our incumbents and building strength in EDAs we do not hold. We are the government of a recession and will wear that come the next election. Harper has charted a sound course, but we are not selling it. We are not selling the public on the accomplishments we have made. We are not communicating.

We are allowing Ignatieff and the Mulroney - Schrieber affair to drive political discourse to our detriment. We need to start driving the agenda if we hope to survive.

The opportunists in Calgary West deserve to be drummed from the party, each and every one. Their sole accomplishment is to sow dissent and negative publicity for the party at a time when we need all hands on deck, working in the same direction. We don't need any lame-duck MPs replaced by untested upstarts who can't contribute anything - not even noise, as they do not speak for the constituency until another election call. That could be a year or more off.

I am fed up with egotistical opportunists who claim to be more conservative or a better class of conservative than anyone else. They think that by seizing the candidacy in a conservative riding and getting elected they will suddenly acquire ethics, honesty and the desire to serve constituents and the party. They don't have any of that now and we don't have time to teach them decorum and manners. Naked avarice is an ugly creature and I see those ugly creatures in Calgary West. May they rot in Hell.

The opportunists in Calgary West deserve to be drummed from the party, each and every one. Their sole accomplishment is to sow dissent and negative publicity for the party at a time when we need all hands on deck, working in the same direction. We don't need any lame-duck MPs replaced by untested upstarts who can't contribute anything - not even noise, as they do not speak for the constituency until another election call. That could be a year or more off.

I am fed up with egotistical opportunists who claim to be more conservative or a better class of conservative than anyone else. They think that by seizing the candidacy in a conservative riding and getting elected they will suddenly acquire ethics, honesty and the desire to serve constituents and the party. They don't have any of that now and we don't have time to teach them decorum and manners. Naked avarice is an ugly creature and I see those ugly creatures in Calgary West. May they rot in Hell.

WestViking,

Though I am utterly impressed by your brief historical overview, putting down the members in Calgary West for wanting a better MP is as un-conservative as Tredeu.

Conservatism has a many of its principles founded in capitalistic philosophy. One capitalistic philosophy that applies to the situation in Calgary West is that the market should dictate that the best person available for a job will get it. In this case, is Rob Anders the best person in Calgary West to be the MP of the party? The overwhelming answer to this question, from the community and it's party members is NO!

The party in this instance has created bad publicity for itself with its stupid nomination process. They have allowed votes of dead people in the riding to count as no for a nomination. They have allowed members who have moved out of the riding of Calgary West to count as a no for a nomination. They sent the ballot with no return postage with all non-returned ballots counting as a no vote. Further, they have allowed those whose ballot was lost in the mail (myself included) to count as a no vote for a nomination. And lastly, they have arbitrarily made a threshold to hold a nomination 66.66% without consulting party members.

WestViking, you speak of "ethics, honesty and the desire to serve constituents and the party". I ask you how have the party hire ups on the National Council and Political Operations served the party by doing the above? The question that you have not asked yourself is: who is the party? The answer to that question should be its 91,000 members across the country, not just the National Council, Political Operations and presiding MP's.

MP's like Anders are costing us seats in other ridings. The Liberals will use Anders to win seats in Ontario, Quebec and the rest of the East by simply stating "the party protects this lunatic, so you should not vote for them". This is not even a Calgary West issue, it is a national party issue. The Conservatives can't count on using a similar tactic, by waving Dion in peoples faces this time. The Libs have a pretty strong and well respected leader. They will pull the plug and trigger a fall election, guaranteed.

That said, it is not likely we will get a majority and there is a possibility we will lose. From my understanding, Harper will step down without a majority in the next election. There will then be a leadership race. The party will square off between Reform and PC's. This is in fact already happening. It will essentially be Jason Kenny vs. a PC candidate like Peter Mackay, Jim Prentice or Jean Charest. The PC and Reform will only choose one candidate from each camp in a strategy not to split their vote. In all likely hood, the PC candidate will win. Kenny has little to no support of Eastern Conservatives. The "EDA 100 points system" used to elected the party leaders will require the candidate to have a huge eastern support base. Kenny and any Reformer for that matter does not have that. A PC candidate will win. Essentially, what I am saying, an I know this is going to make some on this blog angry, but the next leadership race will be the death of Reform.

That now said, do you think the new PC leaders are going to continue to protect Anders? The answer to that one is also a blunt no.

The opportunists in Calgary West deserve to be drummed from the party, each and every one. Their sole accomplishment is to sow dissent and negative publicity for the party at a time when we need all hands on deck, working in the same direction. We don't need any lame-duck MPs replaced by untested upstarts who can't contribute anything - not even noise, as they do not speak for the constituency until another election call. That could be a year or more off.

I am fed up with egotistical opportunists who claim to be more conservative or a better class of conservative than anyone else. They think that by seizing the candidacy in a conservative riding and getting elected they will suddenly acquire ethics, honesty and the desire to serve constituents and the party. They don't have any of that now and we don't have time to teach them decorum and manners. Naked avarice is an ugly creature and I see those ugly creatures in Calgary West. May they rot in Hell.

WestViking,

Though I am utterly impressed by your brief historical overview, putting down the members in Calgary West for wanting a better MP is as un-conservative as Tredeu.

Conservatism has a many of its principles founded in capitalistic philosophy. One capitalistic philosophy that applies to the situation in Calgary West is that the market should dictate that the best person available for a job will get it. In this case, is Rob Anders the best person in Calgary West to be the MP of the party? The overwhelming answer to this question, from the community and it's party members is NO!

The party in this instance has created bad publicity for itself with its stupid nomination process. They have allowed votes of dead people in the riding to count as no for a nomination. They have allowed members who have moved out of the riding of Calgary West to count as a no for a nomination. They sent the ballot with no return postage with all non-returned ballots counting as a no vote. Further, they have allowed those whose ballot was lost in the mail (myself included) to count as a no vote for a nomination. And lastly, they have arbitrarily made a threshold to hold a nomination 66.66% without consulting party members.

WestViking, you speak of "ethics, honesty and the desire to serve constituents and the party". I ask you how have the party hire ups on the National Council and Political Operations served the party by doing the above? The question that you have not asked yourself is: who is the party? The answer to that question should be its 91,000 members across the country, not just the National Council, Political Operations and presiding MP's.

MP's like Anders are costing us seats in other ridings. The Liberals will use Anders to win seats in Ontario, Quebec and the rest of the East by simply stating "the party protects this lunatic, so you should not vote for them". This is not even a Calgary West issue, it is a national party issue. The Conservatives can't count on using a similar tactic, by waving Dion in peoples faces this time. The Libs have a pretty strong and well respected leader. They will pull the plug and trigger a fall election, guaranteed.

That said, it is not likely we will get a majority and there is a possibility we will lose. From my understanding, Harper will step down without a majority in the next election. There will then be a leadership race. The party will square off between Reform and PC's. This is in fact already happening. It will essentially be Jason Kenny vs. a PC candidate like Peter Mackay, Jim Prentice or Jean Charest. The PC and Reform will only choose one candidate from each camp in a strategy not to split their vote. In all likely hood, the PC candidate will win. Kenny has little to no support of Eastern Conservatives. The "EDA 100 points system" used to elected the party leaders will require the candidate to have a huge eastern support base. Kenny and any Reformer for that matter does not have that. A PC candidate will win. Essentially, what I am saying, an I know this is going to make some on this blog angry, but the next leadership race will be the death of Reform.

That now said, do you think the new PC leaders are going to continue to protect Anders? The answer to that one is also a blunt no.

It's not a matter of "if" on this one, it's a matter of "when".

Please explain to me the advantage of putting a new candidate in place in the EDA when Anders will have at least one and perhaps two years left to represent the EDA. What is this candidate to do in the interim? We only have one representative for an EDA.

The opportunists in Calgary West deserve to be drummed from the party, each and every one. Their sole accomplishment is to sow dissent and negative publicity for the party at a time when we need all hands on deck, working in the same direction. We don't need any lame-duck MPs replaced by untested upstarts who can't contribute anything - not even noise, as they do not speak for the constituency until another election call. That could be a year or more off.

I am fed up with egotistical opportunists who claim to be more conservative or a better class of conservative than anyone else. They think that by seizing the candidacy in a conservative riding and getting elected they will suddenly acquire ethics, honesty and the desire to serve constituents and the party. They don't have any of that now and we don't have time to teach them decorum and manners. Naked avarice is an ugly creature and I see those ugly creatures in Calgary West. May they rot in Hell.

.

MP's like Anders are costing us seats in other ridings. The Liberals will use Anders to win seats in Ontario, Quebec and the rest of the East by simply stating "the party protects this lunatic, so you should not vote for them". This is not even a Calgary West issue, it is a national party issue. The Conservatives can't count on using a similar tactic, by waving Dion in peoples faces this time. The Libs have a pretty strong and well respected leader. They will pull the plug and trigger a fall election, guaranteed.

It's not a matter of "if" on this one, it's a matter of "when".

mp's like anders are costing us seats ? please yet me remind you who released the mini scandal on anders during the last election to the media with the sole intent of making him and the conservatives look bad . it was Donna Kennedy Glans .

sorry but she has proven herself to be an oppurtunist , who cares more about her own personal gains than the party itself . she and her supporters should be given the boot for the crap they are pulling in calgary west , we don't need this during such a tough political period .

mp's like anders are costing us seats ? please yet me remind you who released the mini scandal on anders during the last election to the media with the sole intent of making him and the conservatives look bad . it was Donna Kennedy Glans .

sorry but she has proven herself to be an oppurtunist , who cares more about her own personal gains than the party itself . she and her supporters should be given the boot for the crap they are pulling in calgary west , we don't need this during such a tough political period .

Yes Kennedy-Glans did do that. What he said was that we need to convert peoples language in other countries to English and their religion to Christianity. These were personal views of Anders, not those of Conservative Party or the government of Canada's foreign policy. If party feels it made them look bad, then maybe they should not keep Anders around. Kennedy-Glans is not the problem, Anders is.

As for giving "the boot" to all of her supporter in the riding, I think she has 1000's of them. And her numbers would obviously outnumber Ander's as her slate won the AGM. Are you going to boot out 1000's or people from the party? She has my support at this point, that is until a nomination actually takes place and I can see who else in the community there is to choose from.

As for tough political periods, we need a nomination more than ever. People in Calgary West are being laid off. The oil companies in Calgary, who are the foundation for employment in Calgary West and whose employees contribute to the local economy, are cutting back. Due to this, people in the riding want to be heard in Ottawa more than ever. Calgary West is a Conservative riding and the nomination battle (when there is one) truly is the election. I support the party, but the party should support the people of Calgary West and give them what they want, which is a nomination contest. Further, the Party is it's members and the members in Calgary West obviously want a contest. Therefore, anything Kennedy-Glans has done to this point is actually positive for the party. What the National Council has done to Calgary West, possibly with the support of the PM, is not positive for the party members and therefore bad for the party.

mp's like anders are costing us seats ? please yet me remind you who released the mini scandal on anders during the last election to the media with the sole intent of making him and the conservatives look bad . it was Donna Kennedy Glans .

sorry but she has proven herself to be an oppurtunist , who cares more about her own personal gains than the party itself . she and her supporters should be given the boot for the crap they are pulling in calgary west , we don't need this during such a tough political period .

Yes Kennedy-Glans did do that. What he said was that we need to convert peoples language in other countries to English and their religion to Christianity. These were personal views of Anders, not those of Conservative Party or the government of Canada's foreign policy. If party feels it made them look bad, then maybe they should not keep Anders around. Kennedy-Glans is not the problem, Anders is.

As for giving "the boot" to all of her supporter in the riding, I think she has 1000's of them. And her numbers would obviously outnumber Ander's as her slate won the AGM. Are you going to boot out 1000's or people from the party? She has my support at this point, that is until a nomination actually takes place and I can see who else in the community there is to choose from.

As for tough political periods, we need a nomination more than ever. People in Calgary West are being laid off. The oil companies in Calgary, who are the foundation for employment in Calgary West and whose employees contribute to the local economy, are cutting back. Due to this, people in the riding want to be heard in Ottawa more than ever. Calgary West is a Conservative riding and the nomination battle (when there is one) truly is the election. I support the party, but the party should support the people of Calgary West and give them what they want, which is a nomination contest. Further, the Party is it's members and the members in Calgary West obviously want a contest. Therefore, anything Kennedy-Glans has done to this point is actually positive for the party. What the National Council has done to Calgary West, possibly with the support of the PM, is not positive for the party members and therefore bad for the party.

but what gets me about the interview is the fact is was done before the election then released with a couple of days left to make anders and the party look bad . it was not done with the best interests of the party in mind .

and why would they need a nomination meeting cause people are being laid off ? people are being laid off in just about every riding in the country are you saying we need to have expensive and time consuming nominations everywhere during such an economically difficult period . how is that going to benefit the economy or party finances ?

and i somehow wonder what the anti anders crowd wants , i suspect what they really want is to remove him , a nomiantion meeting is seen as a way . so thats what they really want . so party democracy was never there first concern , removing anders was . this is just being pushed in an attempt to accompolish that goal .

but what gets me about the interview is the fact is was done before the election then released with a couple of days left to make anders and the party look bad . it was not done with the best interests of the party in mind .

and why would they need a nomination meeting cause people are being laid off ? people are being laid off in just about every riding in the country are you saying we need to have expensive and time consuming nominations everywhere during such an economically difficult period . how is that going to benefit the economy or party finances ?

and i somehow wonder what the anti anders crowd wants , i suspect what they really want is to remove him , a nomiantion meeting is seen as a way . so thats what they really want . so party democracy was never there first concern , removing anders was . this is just being pushed in an attempt to accompolish that goal .

RCO, it's good to ask all these question, I asked them of people to. It turns out that the Kennedy-Glans and Anders interaction took place at a dinner that Kennedy-Glans went to. She runs a company called Bridges that does international humanitarian work. Anders comments came in a conversation they had about international aid. To put it bluntly, I think it really pissed Kennedy-Glans off that her MP would say such a thing. If I was her I might have gone public to.

Regarding the lay offs, people are more politically active in recessions RCO's. In times of prosper, we are less likely to want to get involved in the political process cause things are good. As I said prior, the nomination process in Calgary West is the election and people want a more experiences person as their MP. Rob has experience as an MP, but little to none in governing the country or a large company. We need the best of the community right now and Calgary West wants new names put forward. They want someone who is high level cabinet material, not some backbencher who the Liberals love cause he helps get them votes out East.

The anti-Anders crowed outnumbers the pro-Anders crowd and you're right, they do want him gone. I would think that those same people (and hope) are also as angry as I am about the lack of democratic process with this new nomination rule.

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